A WOODLAND PARTY

my son and i share a birthday. it was not planned like that at all, but thats how it is. labour is not necessarily how i wanted to spend my thirtieth birthday but it did mean i got the best birthday present ever! i was planning on having a bit of a party for my thirtieth but when i found out i was pregnant and due so close to my birthday, i put off celebrating. so this year, for my son's first birthday and my thirtieth [plus one], we put on a combined party. here are some of the pictures from the set up. we went for a bit of a woodland theme, with grass and moss covered cupcakes, and feathers, wood slices and pine cones for decoration. our cakes were super simple but i was really happy with them. hope you like them!

as you walk in our front door, there is our linen cupboard with a chalkboard door. so i did a party board!!!! the trick was using a chalk pencil for the fine lines, i just find if i only use chalk it looks clunky.

outside on the deck, we used balloons, feathers and pine cones. some of the feathers were dipped in gold glitter which looked great in the sunshine!

our cakes were a simple carrot cake, one with two layers and one with three, both with a healthy amount of home made cream cheese icing. the bunting was handmade, and the animal figurines from mini zoo

with the help of family and friends, we were able to put on a great spread. there were mushroom cupcakes [that needed a whole bottle of food colouring!!!], moss cupcakes, critter cookies [thanks ikea for the cookie cutters!], meringues and fruit, and it all looked and tasted amazing!

the light above our dining table has a branch, with six pendants off it. we added a little embellishment in the party theme, with white flowers, pine cones and feathers.

and here is the sweet birthday boy!!! he kept his crown on for the whole party [hand made with a piece of felt] and he enjoyed his first taste of cake. the high chair banner was also handmade with all materials from spotlight.

 it was heaps of prep but totally worth it. it was a great time celebrating our boy and that we had made it through the first year of parenting, and that we are all still alive. it was fun celebrating my thirtieth also, albeit a year late - i don't mind waiting if its for this precious boy!

RENOVATION PROGRESS (POST 1)

so our house is progressing! i have been pleasantly surprised by our builder being on schedule and anticipating completion of stage 1 by the middle of next week! here are a few of the progress pictures so far (excuse the poor picture quality - they were taken on my iPhone)...i am very much looking forward to sharing with you all the pictures of stage 1 when complete!

so far all the structural and door changes for stage 1 have been completed, along with the plaster work and the new openings to what will be our deck as part of stage 1.

the bathroom area has been extended and waterproofed, and the tiles are progressively being installed. the kitchen is also a work in progress, with all the rough in completed and the carcass for all the cupboards in also. i am so excited about our new kitchen and bathroom!

this is looking from our lounge room into what was the kitchen and the third bedroom. having removed the wall between the kitchen and bedroom 3, and making the opening between the previous kitchen and dining/lounge, the space feels so much bigger and more open.

view into what was our kitchen! this is our new dining room. the width of the opening to outside stayed the same, but we dropped the sill to the floor as stage 2 will include a deck outside these doors. the extra opening size makes the room feel so much lighter and, combined with the extra width to the lounge room opening, the light in the lounge room is much better.

 

the opening between lounge and dining which is now much bigger. previously it was two sliding doors but has been cut now to be as open as possible while still catering for the joinery and the kitchen. the doors from the living to the corridor have also changed to bifolds, and joinery is going to go on either side of the bifolds. am very much looking forward to these cupboards and bookshelves, and think they will prove of infinite value to store bub's toys and get breakables at a height that is out of reach of little hands!!

the carcass of our new kitchen! i am most excited about a big clear bench space between dining and the kitchen so i can have preparation space, the new pantry with pull out drawers and the vertical storage above the oven and microwave. for the windows, we have gone for bifolds and are going to have a servery that will open out to the new deck. again, we kept the opening width the same to minimise structural changes and brought the sill height up to allow for the bench. this space was previously bed 3 which was originally a dining room that previous owners had converted. the conversion was done with minimal cost and had an awkward shape due to outdoor access also being from this room.

looking back to the living room which largely remains unchanged except that it will now just be living, not living and dining. this change will increase the amount of time that our family will fit in the home greatly. the ceiling has also been resheeted and cornices redone to ensure consistency!

the tiling in the bathroom is under way and i must admit, this was one of the things i was most nervous about because once its done it is an expensive thing to change. we are very happy with how they look so far. these white 300mm x 75mm handmade look subway tiles are being laid floor to ceiling in the main bathroom in a random pattern.

the floor tiles to the WC which are the same as the tiles in the main bathroom. i like the patterns, and am very happy with the colouring. i was a bit unsure if they would be too dark but the dark component is not black (but will still work with black tap ware) and there is enough white to balance. i think this also means that while the pattern is very busy and detailed if you look closely, it is not completely overwhelming on a large scale. the white wall tiles (which will have white grout) will also assist in balancing the floor.

a close up of the tiles on the floor

once all the works have been finished, i will do room by room posts which will include details of where the different components were purchased from etc. in the meantime let me know if there is a specific component you would like some info on!

THE BEFORE POST

we have finally gotten around to starting the renovations that we have been planning since we moved in (3.5 years ago) to our house. sure, we're on a tight time frame (hoping to move back in to a half finished house when i am 39 weeks pregnant) but hey, better late than never right?!

i have so many mixed emotions about this one...on one hand i am super excited to have our new kitchen and bathroom and deck, on the other hand i am super nervous about all of my decisions coming together. i have done all the drawings and obtained the relevant approvals (might as well use that architecture degree for something!!), and done all the research and made all the decisions about tiles and kitchen cupboards and lights and fittings and fixtures, so if it doesn't come together i really have nowhere else to turn except to myself (scary!!!!). i am very thankful to my friends who have spent many hours discussing the pros and cons of different light fittings and tiles and how everything is going to fit together!

originally, i was going to completely project manage all the trades myself, however when we found out we were expecting our first little bundle of joy, we decided (read: my husband insisted) that we engage a builder to take care of and manage the trades, particularly to keep things on a hopefully tighter time frame than if i was managing trades myself while working and being pregnant.

anyway, here are the before pictures of our little house that we love, and we are super excited to be having our family grow up in this house, particularly once we have made it ours!

WC

bathroom

living

dining

kitchen

kitchen

i will try and post a few pics along the way also - at the moment i just have a gutted kitchen and bathroom, will also try and put some pictures up of the plan for each room and the products we have chosen!!

WELCOME TO OUR HOME

so this was one of my holiday projects over christmas and new year. as you walk into our house, there is a cupboard right in front of you which is now covered in chalkboard paint! the previous owners had painted in the hinges so it was painted in situ. painters tape became my friend in this project and very much saved the architrave from looking like a mess! please ignore the yellow walls - these are soon to be changed to antique white and some cole and son wallpaper!

a couple of tips if completing this at home:

- sand off gloss paint before painting - this will mean that the paint will stick to the surface.
- put some plastic down on the floor and cover it with newspaper - the newspaper will absorb the paint and prevent it from running but the plastic underneath will save you if you have a big spill
- put painters tape inside the line of the door in case the paint brush bristles slip between the door and the architrave
- a larger number of thinner layers is better than a smaller number of thicker layers - i did try to lay on the paint pretty thick but it just ends up with drips so its not worth it
- do three layers of chalkboard paint instead of two - it didn't look like the coverage was complete or even until there were three coats
- when writing on the chalkboard, map it out lightly first and then draw it in, and have a damp piece of paper towel with you to refine any mistakes.

CHRISTMAS AT 6A # 2

the people who know me know that i love christmas. one of my joys each year is to, after i've convinced my husband that we should have a real tree again, put up and decorate our tree. adrian's contribution to decorating the tree this year was putting the star on top at the end which means we decorated the tree together, right?

presents this year are in the usual kraft paper, but this year are tied with twine and then the gold bunting goes on. the recipients name is stamped with individual letters to the left of the tied twine. i hope you like them!

CHRISTMAS AT 6A # 1

some christmas details from around my house. these ornaments are made with fimo which has been cut out using a cookie/scone cutter and rubber stamps to make the imprint.